WE MUST NOT ENCOURAGE MARIJUANA USE

It was troubling to see the Citizen provide space on the front of its news
pages, just under the photos of the four murdered RCMP officers, for Dan
Gardner to offer readers his views on the legalization of marijuana ("For
years, everyone saw this coming," March 5).

His opinion piece makes the case that marijuana use is relatively less
harmful than alcohol or tobacco and therefore should be legalized in order
to eradicate most of the problems related to it, including law-enforcement
ones.

Some of today's marijuana is more potent than in earlier years and the
effects can be more intense. The drug is also believed to cause other
health problems, including respiratory damage, impaired memory and
decreased motivation. There are links between marijuana use and other
drugs, which may result from participation in circles where these products
circulate. And what of the cannabis-dependence syndrome in which users feel
compelled to continue despite adverse effects?

The latest phenomenon, at least in northern Alberta, has been to combine
marijuana with "crystal meth" as an "exciting" new cocktail. No one tells
customers that "meth" is one of the most addictive chemicals on Earth and
that most people become "hooked" after even just one or two uses, that
there is currently no effective treatment for it, and that a few dealers in
the region are making up to a million dollars a month selling such products
to children as young as 10.

A shift toward permissiveness through legalization or decriminalization of
marijuana would thus be a serious policy error. It would send the wrong
signal not only to younger Canadians, but to organized crime.

To couple such a move with attempts to deal more severely with those who
grow and sell the product only gives Canadians of all ages the baffling
message that "use is legal; sale is illegal."

Attempts to legalize drugs in some other jurisdictions have usually been
quickly reversed. For example, in the mid-1980s, Spain softened its drug
laws, only to strengthen them when the country became a major
trans-shipment destination.

In Zurich, Switzerland, the legalization of open drug use within the
confines of the now infamous Platzpitz, or "Needle Park," resulted in a
30-per-cent increase in crime in the surrounding area and also tripled the
mortality rate among drug users within a five-year period. The park was
closed in 1992 due to public pressure; in a 1998 referendum, Swiss voters
overwhelming rejected legalizing the sale of all banned drugs throughout
the country.

Substance abuse is already having a serious effect in many parts of Canada.
In 1992, the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse estimated that such
activities were costing more than $18.45 billion annually. This represented
about $649 per Canadian at the time, with illegal drug use alone costing
about $48 per person.

The largest cost items were premature death and lost productivity due to
illness. Since then substance abuse, overall, appears to have worsened.

There is one point on which all sides of the debate agree: "Demand breeds
supply." Reducing demand for marijuana and other substances can be achieved
in many ways.

For example, approximately one out of three ads in our print and electronic
media promotes drugs and drug use in some form. The attitudes they foster
towards legal drugs can affect the way consumers think about drugs
generally. More responsibility is required in media advertising codes and
practices.

Research indicates that anti-substance-abuse programs should involve
families, schools, community and faith organizations in order to be most
effective. A number of school-based programs appear to offer real hope,
especially if they can offer programming targeted specifically at the
primary risk factors for adolescent drug use.

The quality of family life and parent-child communication play an important
role in preventing substance use. Parents can make a major difference in
curbing teenage drug use.

Finally, the observation of Peter Vamos at the Montreal World Conference on
Drugs and Society to the Year 2000 remain relevant: "As long as the wars on
drugs are declared by politicians and are fought only by bureaucrats, the
police and the professional communities, the results are doomed. But if the
whole population of each nation is mobilized by its leadership, by focusing
attention on the real issues and giving the problem its due priority, then
we collectively can shrug off the terrible yoke of a drug-infested society."